Patch Notes - Threat - 1.0.9.4.72fb12b (9 May 18)

What’s NewIn a nutshell, the Threat update is all about making the High wilderness feel like a more dangerous place. It is a more dangerous place. Be prepared to defend yourself. Be prepared to die, frequently. You are welcome.

Hazardous DiscoveriesVarious transient discoveries across the High Wilderness are now Hazardous Discoveries, that is they have a chance to give you a nasty surprise when you interact with them. This is generally in the form of spawning a beastie who will be rather displeased to see you (their sudden appearance may give you a bit of a shock, but we’ll be adding a more subtle spawn animation in the future).

Some discoveries (Vitrified Structures, Curators Eggs and Grim Inscriptions) now have a halo effect similar to Spectacles where Terror will be applied when you get too close. Others like Wefts of Unravelled Time force interaction when you approach. Sail carefully!

WeatherWeather is a special type of Hazardous Discovery that randomly spawns throughout the High Wilderness (there are many spawn points in the Reach but only a few in Albion at present. We will be implementing additional weather spawn zones in a future update). All weather exhibits a physical force on locomotives along with other effects, some negative others beneficial.

The Peacock Wind will increase your rate of Terror gain but also replenish your current barrel of supplies up to 100%.

The Candlewind will increase your rate of supply consumption. Ensure you have enough sustenance before daring to cross it.

The Storm-that-Speaks is an interactable discovery. If you can cope with the Terror gain and Hull damage on your journey to the eye of the storm, then perhaps you may speak to it.

ScoutsThe Diffident Bat finally has some company. This update sees the release of an additional three scouts, the Star-Smitten Bat, the Intrepid Cavy and the Ratronaut. For Kickstarter backers there is also the Cyclopean Owl. These are not just pretty pets, but useful lookouts each with varying abilities. There are three attributes by which scouts can be ranked:

Bravery. Scouts are either Cautious and search for things nearby (Diffident Bat, Cyclopean Owl) or Bold and have a longer range.

Curiosity. Scouts can be Diffident and only report a single find (Diffident Bat, Star-Smitten Bat, Intrepid Cavy), or they can be Inquisitive and spot up to three things of interest.

Acuity. Finally Scouts may be Oblivious and simply mark locations on your chart (Diffident Bat, Star-Smitten Bat, The Ratronaut), or they may be Discerning and will categorise their findings with unique icons.

The helpful critters can be acquired from a very special merchant who you’ll encounter at New Winchester. This trader will appear after roughly a month of in-game time on a new account and will have already set up shop on existing saves, so it’s worth a detour to take a look at his wares. Be warned though, the merchant is a traveller and once you’ve poked around his shop he will move on. Fortunately he will always leave a clue as to where he intends to visit next (after a number of stops he will move on to Eleutheria so ensure you do not squander your opportunities to purchase new scouts).

WrathAgents now provide visual feedback when they are provoked. A crescent will be seen around your locomotive indicating the direction of the agent and their hostility towards you. The colour will change from white to red as an agent’s wrath builds and if it decides to attack the crescent will pulse deep red before vanishing. Some agents have bespoke animations, like Scrive-Spinters which emit a red glow of rage when they decide to hunt you down. Other agents will be updated with similar effects in due course.

Some beasties like the Scrive-Spinster and Enduring Dreadnought now have damage indicators. Dreadnoughts will start smoking when they reach 50% health and will catch fire around 25%. Scrive-Spinsters have a similar effect where they start to ooze yellow particles as they take damage. Again we’ll be applying similar effects to other beasties throughout the High Wilderness in future updates.

There are now bunch of new ways for you to accrue wrath from various enemies. Some agents in the Reach will be friendly or hostile towards you depending on your allegiance in the Winchester War. Some will become angry when you are running errands for their enemies in the form of Prospects and Bargains. Other agents, like the territorial Chorsiter Bees, will take issue with you when you are carrying certain items. Approaching them may raise their hackles and while they'll check you out they will generally leave you alone. If you're carrying Nectar however, well, just remember our advice. Don't antagonise the bees!

Updates

We’ve revisited discovery and agent spawning in the Reach so the experience is more akin to that in Albion. Some discoveries that were released in the Albion update can now be found in the Reach.

We’ve added a whole host of new ambient text including segment entrance messages.

We’ve added four interactable Isambard line discoveries.

You’ll now experience new Nightmares as your Terror rises and your Condition worsens

We’ve expanded the Winchester War content between the Tacketies and Stovepipes with added options to influence the course of the war.

The Winchester War now has a greater effect on the spawning of agents around the Reach.

New Prospects and Bargains.

Hints are now present on the loading screen.

Esc now closes interfaces.

Bullets and their particle effects have been updated.

The locomotive’s smoke trail has been updated.

New chart icons for Spectacles, Transit Relays and Discoveries.

We’ve improved the UI highlighting for controller/keyboard support.

We’ve made changes to the Prospects and Bargains interface to make it more user friendly.

Current and example save files have been removed from the mode selection screen when starting a new game.

New Term of Address options on character creation.

Wonder and Horror music has been introduced to Spectacles.

New SFX are in place throughout the High Wilderness including: docking, agent attacks, weapons fire, looting, fuel/supply barrel change and level up.

Bug Fixes

You now have to turn controller support on manually in the control options menu. This is a temporary fix to stop gaming keyboards, mouse devices and non-standard controllers (e.g. foot pedals, arcade sticks, steering wheels) being auto-detected.

Controller instructions will no longer become stuck on screen after death.

The Interact prompt no longer appears over the top of the transit gates once activated and the animation runs.

You can now open more than one section at a time on Possessions interface with a controller.

The pause menu no longer opens behind the Chart.

Homesteads now appear in the Prosper segment.

Collision damage has been applied to Kisigar Gardens and Youngsfound assets in New Winchester.

The Worlebury-juxta-mare label is no longer obscured by fog.

Collision damage has been applied to all assets in Brabazon.

We've fixed the z-fighting near Tuxeed Point in the Brabazon segment.

Smoke is now correctly aligned with the pipes producing it in Brabazon.

The headlight no longer passes over the port assets at the Royal Society.

The new strafing and venting SFX are now present on all non-Spatchcock locomotives.

Port Avon bells can no longer be heard when starting a new save file.

Port Avon bells are now muted when storylets are open.

Port Avon bells no longer distort with player movement.

Various SFX are now muted when SFX volume is set to 0% (strafing, venting, docking, Magdalene’s clock, Port Avon’s bells and Scorn-flukes and Guest attack SFX).

Port specific SFX are now heard when travelling to Albion and when moving between segments.

We’ve fixed a bunch of typos and grammatical errors.

Known IssuesBelow is a list of known issues. For a full list of game issues see our Known Issues page.

The new docking SFX is missing at several ports

The Wrath overlay can get stuck on screen after death or returning to the Title Screen

The chart icon does not update when players encounter Transit Relays after being scouted by oblivious scouts.

Transit Relay and Persistent Discovery icons do not persist on chart after reload